


the belonging you sought

by wombathos



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Banter, F/M, Fix-It, Force Ghost(s), Hurt/Comfort, POV Rey (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey Nobody, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, World Between Worlds, okay a lot of retconning of TROS, plays fast and loose with canon but technically after one of the last tros scenes, rey bickering with a ghost you know how it is, some retconning of TROS, y'know mixed in with the angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21946054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wombathos/pseuds/wombathos
Summary: *spoilers for tros below*It wasn't just losing Ben. It was losing everything, again and again and again.When Rey finds herself alone once again, it's hard to keep fighting. But there's a ghost who isn't quite ready to give her up. And she realises she isn't ready to give him up either.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written from my desire to have fix-it specific to the end of TROS that also... hand waves much of what happened in the film away? Especially the Rey Palpatine thing, sorry.
> 
> ANYWAY I'm also on tumblr at [@wombathos](https://wombathos.tumblr.com/) and my very new [ twitter under the same username](https://twitter.com/wombathos), if anyone wants to yell about TROS or indeed life.

She couldn’t remember dying. But she remembered coming back. She doubted she’d ever be able to forget it, that odd feeling of floating up and coming to rest in something that had once been hers but wasn’t _quite_ anymore. And there she was, back in her familiar body. Reinhabiting it as a flush of heat appeared in her centre and spread out from there. Sensation returned before sight did, the feeling of something on her back and - something _familiar_ resting on her chest. Driven by instinct, she reached out for it, and grasped his hand, cool - almost cold.

Her sight focused and found him almost immediately. She felt surprised and relieved and not surprised at all to see him, because of course he was there. As he always had been.

“Ben!”

His eyes searched her entire face as she grinned at him, and she reached forward to touch his cold, soft face, gently prodding at his hair, lingering there like she’d wanted but never been able to. Her hand searched a little more, but when she looked at his lips she knew that wasn’t enough. She surged forward and kissed him, feeling his lips against hers, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt his hand find her back. Her warm lips pressed against his, cool to the touch, as he leaned in, as if he’d only be waiting for her - and he had been. No, she’d been waiting for him. Or… _Stop thinking_. There was nothing but this. Nothing that mattered.

When they parted, he kept staring at her, like he was still searching, like he still wondered whether she meant it? She smiled at him, and he grinned back. It transformed his whole face. She had thought she _knew_ that face, from dreams and from the Force bond and occasionally from real life. But it still had so much more to offer, like this wonderful grin. She wanted to know every expression he had to offer, every way that face could smile.

The smile faded and he fell back. She kept holding his hand. Kept grasping it like if she did, he wouldn’t - 

_He’s going to leave you_.

No, that couldn’t be. And surely if he had brought her back, then she could -

He faded.

It was so sudden. He was there, then he wasn’t. His body was -

_One with the Force_.

No.

No.

_It’s not meant to be like this._

No.

She stared down at the empty clothes, and then she couldn’t breathe. The pressure in her temples increased, and she felt like her nose was being pushed in by an invisible force, making it feel like her head was about to split open, like her body wanted to slip back into death if - if… She took a heaving breath and it barely made it through her nostrils, like the air itself was expanding and ready to break her apart. The breath barely made it down her throat, it got stuck on its way to her lungs. She breathed desperately again, deeply, like she could get enough air into her system to make it right again. She couldn’t.

“No,” she whispered, and her hand pressed down on the sleeve where the hand had been. She had held that hand, she had - And these clothes, these clothes were so flimsy, so insubstantial when compared to all those layers she’d seen in him, he had been - It had just been - He hadn’t had his lightsaber, hadn’t had anything. Just himself.

And now he was gone.

_He left you._

No.

The world flickered around her. She felt woozy for a moment, and when she dared to open her eyes incandescent lights flickered around her, swirling through the cave which seemed to have grown dimmer in the bright lights, and she could barely see more than a few feet ahead of her.

Like she’d forgotten to breathe.

Maybe she was going to die after all.

Her hand splayed forward and hit the stone floor, cold _like he was_ and hard and sending a shudder up her arm, the skin of her fingers and the bones suddenly remind her she could feel pain. A wave of nausea rose in her and with it a haze covering her mind - or being lifted? - or -

The warmth was gone.

What had happened?

She had gotten here to…

_My memories_.

They weren’t fading, not exactly. They just felt disjointed. Nothing fit. None of it made any sense.

Why had she come here? Where was this?

The ground shook around her and she raised her head but could only see faint lights, swimming around her. Maybe the sound of explosions. Maybe nothing but the haze of the air around her, thickening and swirling around her, maybe smoke or fog or ashes or -

Her head dropped. All her weight rested on one arm, then she fell on the other and the arm collapsed and it was only her elbow propping her up. And maybe dying here wasn’t the worst thing. Here. This place she didn’t understand, couldn’t place, made no sense.

_You belong here_ , a voice whispered in her head. A ghost, she thought, maybe. Ghosts were her only companion now. If she truly came from the Sith, she should -

She should be buried with them too. Palpatine was gone - her friends, they would have won now. She had done her part. This was how her story would end.

Her elbow sunk into the stone - the stones that were sinking, cracking. Her hearing splintered, she thought - none of this felt real. None of it stayed. All she had was the - the sweater, she reached for it again, with the other arm that wasn’t propping her up, reminded herself of what it felt like, the soft fabric that had been there all along. It would stop hurting, soon. Nothing had ever made sense, not even here, at the end, here least of all. It would stop hurting. Maybe she would not be alone. Or maybe she would, as she always had been, in the end. Left alone in the crumbling ruins of another falling empire. She could appreciate that, in its own way, how it all made sense, how it had all come together to bring her to her final destination. The last lucid thought she would ever have, she realised. She wished it weren’t so sad. All she had ever wanted was something just a little happier. Just a little less lonely.

“Rey.”

She almost smiled at her tired mind, giving her something to hold on to. For a moment, she hadn’t been alone. If she could go back -

“Rey!”

“I wish we could’ve done things differently,” she mumbled, her mouth opening enough to admit the salty tears on her lips.

“Never mind that. You need to go.”

What?

She looked up, instinct driving her more than anything else, and was confronted by a sight that made her heart stop and then race with renewed fervour. She could see him - _Ben_ \- crouched in front of her. Not him, not really, but a shape lit by blue light. Even crouched low over her half-kneeling figure, he still towered above her, and when he met her gaze his chin dipped like it would let him see her better, his eyes fixed on her like he was seeing her for the very first time. But then something crashed in the distance and his head whipped around.

“You have to go.”

She didn’t move and he looked back at her as she struggled to say _anything_. Which was weird, because she had about a million things to say. But they weren’t in the right order and they certainly weren’t enough.

“You’re -”

“Not here,” finished Ben. She realised how frightened he looked as he glanced around them again, a hand hovering close to Rey’s scraped leg while he scanned their surroundings. Almost as if he could protect her. “This place is going to go. You can feel it, can’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then _go_.”

Rey looked around. Everything was still hazy, still unclear, still collapsing. She still didn’t understand anything that was going on and Ben’s ghost - _oh no_ \- didn’t exactly make things better or clearer or… Well, she knew how to survive. She had that going for, at the least.

The irony of the thought made a strangled giggle escape from between her lips and Ben paused his worried scanning of their surroundings to give her a look that said are-you-insane. This more than anything finally jerked her into motion, made her spring to her feet supported by knees that groaned at the very motion. Clearly Jedi training could only get you so far. Without thinking she grabbed Ben’s clothes, and the two lightsabers, then turned into the general direction of the exit and ran.

* * *

The chains were when things really started falling apart. Very literally, given the half chain-link that almost fell on her. She got a glimpse of Ben’s face, who had been staunchly following her and now looked pale and scared and annoyed.

“Be careful,” he said, sounding like he was trying not to admonish her, which shouldn’t have been audible given everything but was. Probably because they were still connected - _are you?_

She didn’t have time to response, instead jumping as high as she could to hit a piece of the chain that was still in place, letting out a gasp of pain as her sore everything hit the metal and sent tremors in her knees so bad she couldn’t feel or move them for a moment, relying on her weakened, slipping fingers to keep her in place.

_I’m not going to make it_.

She felt her knees again and wrapped herself around the chain as best she could. Then readied herself to keep going. She wasn’t going to give up now. This wasn’t going to be the way she went. This wasn’t the end.

* * *

She fell on the ground in front of the hole, then quickly scuttled back as the hole expanded. It stopped expanding, leaving a cavity in its place where the entrance to the - to the -

Where the entrance had once been.

Ben’s clothes that had been perched on her shoulder fell off as she slumped back onto the ground, her back hitting the surface hard as the lightsabers dug into her hip. If she accidentally flipped the ignition and those things skewered her… it’d be quite a way to go.

She smiled at the black sky. Had the explosions stopped? It was weird, not seeing anything. Not even stars.

“Rey.”

Rey didn’t look around, not immediately. She’d have to steel herself, to see him again, to see him like _that_.

“More could collapse.”

“I’ll feel it,” muttered Rey.

“It’s not far to your ship, you -”

“I just came back from the dead,” Rey snapped, sitting up in a hurried, painful motion and finally turning her head to glare at Ben. Then she realised what she had said, and who she had said it to. She looked away, back up at the sky, feeling the tears stinging again. And then flowing over, spilling out onto her cheek and trickling down her face as she sobbed angrily, trying to swallow it all back down but not able to. She put a hand in front of her eyes, turned her head down, trying to keep her dignity before the dead. 

“Rey -”

“Stop.”

A pause.

“You shouldn’t have had to do that. It can’t be easy to come back. But you’ll find a way to move on past it. You’re strong, Rey.”

Rey looked at him again, out of disbelief more than anything. “That’s not what I’m crying about, you idiot.”

Those big dark eyes looked back at her, so lifelike and so _not_ they made her want to puke. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” She wiped away some of the tears with a furious motion, almost punching herself with the back of her hand. At some point she had to stop feeling pain, she figured. It was just a question of getting there.

And she had to know. Rey swallowed. “You’re… a ghost?” 

Ben looked down at himself, brow furrowed. “I’m not sure.”

“You look like one.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. Like he was trying to clamp down on his amusement. Odd, really - that she knew what it was, even though she hadn’t seen it ever before. She watched his mouth so closely that she almost missed the words that came out of them. “What do ghosts look like?”

“Um,” she said, trying and failing to come up with a non-dumb response. “Glowing. Transparent. Eh… Blue.”

Yeah, he was definitely trying to swallow a laugh now. “I see General Organa taught you well.”

“You mean your mum.”

The smile slipped and Rey wished she hadn’t said anything in the first place. But he didn’t close himself off, not this time, merely held her gaze.

“Yeah,” he said. “Are you going to move away from the huge dangerous hole in the ground?"

“In a moment.”

His lips twitched, like he wanted to say something. He didn’t. She very nearly smiled.

Ben settled down on the ground next to her. She still couldn't quite believe how _young_ he looked, ever since he'd come back and stood by her side and then been there when she'd… 

_He’ll never got to grow older._

“I'm still trying to piece it together,” he said, breaking her out of her revery.

Rey blinked a few times. “What?”

“What happened. “

She stared at him, uncomprehending.

He raised his eyebrows. “You don't have questions? About all this?”

“I was saving that for later.”

“What’s later when you’re -” murmured Ben, voice laden with irony, before cutting himself off with a guilty look at Rey. She hated that _he_ would feel guilty, hated the reminder, wished he weren’t glowing or transparent _or_ blue and wished he were actually here so she could hold him and kiss him and be with him.

“You _are_ dead,” she said, like saying it would allow her to process it.

“Yeah.”

“Then you have to be a ghost, right?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen one before. Only in paintings and murals.”

Rey’s brow furrowed. “Really?”

He raised his eyebrows in turn. “Have you?”

“I saw Master Skywalker as a ghost.”

Ben’s face betrayed him, as it always did, but he made a valiant effort to look unperturbed. “Really?”

“Only recently,” she hastened to clarify. “I was on Ach-To - after we fought…”

He gave the slightest of nods, made an attempt at humour. “Knew I should've bombed that place to oblivion.”

“No, you shouldn't have. “

“Hm.”

“I spoke to him before I went to Palpatine. Just the once.”

“Did you?”

The two words were spoken in the most even of tones, yet when their implications sunk in they left her reeling. “Was it… real?”

“I don’t know,” said Ben. “I was just surprised you were facing Palpatine on your own.”

“You didn’t give me much of a choice.”

“I offered -” He stopped himself, looked past Rey to the starless sky. “I saw how you were on the Death Star. And then you find Skywalker. Who encourages you to go after Palpatine.”

Rey paused. “Why would you even think that this - some of it, wouldn’t be real?”

“Ever since I found Palpatine, even before then, something’s been…” He frowned. “It's almost like… waking up.”

“From a dream,” Rey finished softly. Yes, she knew the feeling. 

“So I don’t know. _Dying_ feels like waking up from a dream. And even when Palpatine was gone it was like…”

“… something fell back into place,” Rey finished his thought again. And she knew what she meant, she did. It was the same thing, she thought, as the _haze_ of everything after. Like the place had never made any sense and she hadn’t even realised.

Ben would know. He would know way better than her. Because he had _always_ been accompanied by that voice, by other voices - she had felt it, hissing at the edges of their bond, had never really understood it until the same thing had happened to… to her.

“Do you want to move away from the pit now?”

“Just one more minute.”

“You need to leave, Rey.”

“I _will_ ,” she said sharply, scowling in his direction. He barely reacted, except for pursing his lips in a manner vaguely reminiscent of his mother.

“It’s still dangerous here. You have to keep moving.”

“I’ve been moving enough,” she muttered. “Don’t you want to figure out what was up with this place before we leave?”

“I don’t think we will.”

“How much of it wasn’t real?”

“It might be easier when time’s passed.”

“Palpatine,” said Rey, ignoring Ben’s words. “You said he was my grandfather.”

Ben looked back at her and she knew the truth had hit him before it had her. “I did.”

“He told you?”

He nodded.

“So he…”

A pause. “I think you know,” said Ben. 

“It wasn't real,” whispered Rey, and inexplicably she felt a sense of loss. Loss at what? She knew tears were pooling in her eyes, and when she looked at Ben he was looking right back at her, mouth ajar and a sorrowful expression on his face. “He was never…”

Ben shook his head. 

“And I’m not…”

Ben inclined his head a little, encouraging her to go on. 

“A Palpatine,” she said, then let out an involuntary chuckle at the phrase.

Ben smiled back, dimples in full display. She _loved_ his smile, she wished she'd known how - The tears trickling down her face told her that she wasn't feeling what she should be at this moment. No relief. No escape.

She looked at Ben in desperation, mouthing silent words, wanting to ask him _why_ she felt this way but not being able to find the right way to say it. He waited silently, hands resting loosely in his lap. How free he looked in death. She very nearly envied him. 

“My parents.” _Did they abandon me_? she wanted to ask, but couldn't.

Ben understood. “I don't know.”

She sniffled deeply and coughed, almost choking on the accumulated mucus. “I just want something to be _real_. Just one thing that isn't a lie.”

His big eyes stared back at her. He started - “I’m” - started reaching forwards, then stopped himself, looking down at the translucent blue as a flash of pain and regret passed his features. The first hint of regret she’d seen, she realised, and it was all for her sake. That in itself threatened to make her scream. Start screaming and never stop.

“I'm here,” he said instead. He reached forward again and the palm of his hand hovered millimetres away from the back of hers. “I'm here.”

_You’re not_ , she wanted to yell. She didn’t.

“You need to go,” he said. “Come on. Please.”

Her head throbbed as a few tears she was pretty sure were new trickled down her face. “I don’t want to.”

“Why?” His eyes narrowed the way they did when he was trying to figure her out. He always succeeded, in the end. “You think I might fade.”

She scrunched up her mouth, helpless.

“You need to leave, Rey,” he said, gently shaking his head. “I’m not coming back.”

“You weren’t supposed to leave me,” she whispered.

His smile was equally gentle. “We don’t know what I am. Maybe I’m coming with you, Rey. But there’s nothing here, for either of us. Leave this place.”

Rey hesitated, then nodded firmly and clambered up. Then she grabbed his clothes, again. She noticed him staring at her and the clothes in unconcealed surprise and she tried to stop herself from blushing. 

“Don't want to let anything go to waste,” She muttered, which was less embarrassing than ‘it’s something of you’ or ‘I need to feel something you had’ or worst of all ‘it smells like you’.

He didn't answer, just looked dubious.

Rey turned away from the pit. It hadn’t gotten any bigger. It would’ve been so easy just to wait there, eventually letting it swallow her.

Instead, she had to find her ship. And then get off this planet, with two lightsabers and some spare clothes and a ghost-or-possibly-not-a-ghost for company.

_You have to keep moving_ , Ben had told her. She glanced at him and he nodded in encouragement. It was hard to see anywhere to go from here, but it could hardly be worse than where she’d ended up.


	2. Chapter 2

“Take the one you came in.”

Rey scowled as she stumbled through the ruins. “I want to take yours.”

“Why?” 

“I just do.”

Ben sighed. “You need to get in contact with the Resistance, remember?”

The planet was definitely collapsing. And that wasn’t going to stop Rey from arguing with a ghost.

“I can work the comms unit, rewire it to fit First Order tech.”

“I’m sure you could but you’d be wasting your time.”

“But -”

“Rey. If I’m coming with you I don’t want to sit in a TIE.”

Her immediate response was to tell him it didn’t matter what he wanted, then she thought better of it. “Fine,” she huffed as she made a beeline to the X-wing. “As long as you don’t complain when you find out how cramped a vintage Rebellion X-wing is.”

Ben didn’t even bother responding to that.

Rey, however, was right: the X-wing was too small. She had half-clambered up the thing and now stared in frustration at the single seat that had no conceivable way of holding both of them, then raised her eyebrows in Ben’s direction.

“I’m not really here. It doesn’t matter if we share the same space.”

“What, _you_ want to be half in me?” asked Rey, then glared when Ben’s mouth dropped open, trying to hide her own embarrassment and regret over the word choice. “You’re huge. You’ll take up all the space. I can’t even sit on your lap since you’re…” She decided to stop talking and instead kept going with the glaring.

“I can disappear for now and come back. That’s what ghosts do.”

“No!” The word slipped out, vehement and way too desperate. Rey caught his gaze, however much it hurt, because she needed him to understand. “You’re not going anywhere. Not for a second.”

_Who knows if you’d come back_.

He hesitated, but nodded, eventually breaking eye contact to throw a worried look at the not too distant explosions. “The droid compartment -”

“We’re taking the TIE.”

Ben’s head whipped back to look at her in startled fear. How much more expressive the ghost was than - “You don’t have time to rewire the comms!”

“Whose fault is that?” snapped Rey, realising she was being incredibly unfair and not caring. She turned tail and headed towards Ben’s - Kylo Ren’s - _Ben’s_ ship, breaking into a run as the crashes behind her grew ever louder.

“You won’t be able to contact the Resistance!” said Ben, easily keeping up with her, which might’ve been a ghost thing or a long-legs thing but in any case would’ve very nearly irritating if she weren’t so scared of losing sight of him.

“I’ll figure it out,” she half-growled back. “I know all the frequencies. And Palpatine’s gone. I have time.”

“The fuel -”

“Shut _it_!” Rey took two leaping bounds - of the regular kind, her access to anything Force-related was pretty shaky right now - and swung herself into the TIE. She stared at the still unfamiliar controls, momentarily distracted by the ball of flame blossoming in the distance.

“Ignition switch’s there.” The ghost finger came very close to passing through Rey’s real hand.

“I _know_ that.”

“You’re not flipping it.”

“I was about to flip it -”

“Then just -”

“- if you weren’t distracting -”

“- flip it now -”

“You really think First Order tech needs geniuses to -”

“Rey!” exclaimed Ben, gesturing in the direction of the blazing horizon.

“Fine,” muttered Rey and flipped the switch. The engine whirred to life and Rey thrust the right-looking lever forwards, making the TIE shoot up and backwards. Yeah, this thing moved well. She gave Ben a smug look.

“Watch out!” he yelped as the edge of the TIE clipped the edge of a cliff.

“Stupid controls,” she said as she wrestled the TIE further up and just dodged between two bolts of lightning. The suction of the planetary collapse behind her was holding steady with the thrust of the engines. She knew she had to turn the ship around through the debris to get a clear line off this planet, also knew she’d left this late.

Rey punched a button and the ship shuddered to a halt.

“ _What are you doing_?” yelled Ben, looking considerably more panicked than she was.

“Wrong button,” said Rey, hitting it again and then the one next to it. “Oh, come on!”

“What are you looking for? What are you -”

“Exhaust -”

“The switch there, it’s there -”

She found it and revved the engine, jumping forwards with a start and almost being crushed by a rock spurting up from below. “This’d be a lot easier if you could shoot.”

“This’d be a lot easier if I could fly,” said Ben, who was coming as close as a ghost could to gripping the edge of her seat.

“I flew your ship off the Death Star just fine,” Rey shot back, then yanked a lever as hard as she could to the side before pushing it back and hitting the thrusters hard, resulting in a pretty neat dodge of various flaming projectiles. She could barely see where she was going, helpful bursts of lightning non-withstanding, making the next dodge a lot closer.

“That ship had a lot of modifications,” said Ben through gritted teeth.

Yeah, maybe. “Why are the sensors so rubbish?”

“Check the heat scans, all the rocks are on fire.”

“The lightning -”

“I’ve got a fix for that, type in the code.” He recited it and Rey punched it in, not petty enough to ignore solid advice even as she had another three near-misses. 

“How did you remember that?”

Ben let out a strangled half-snarl. “Could you focus on not dying?”

_You’re one to talk_.

* * *

She did make it out. And she didn’t die. And the vast emptiness of space embraced her.

But at least Ben didn’t vanish. At least he was still there.

The battle should’ve been raging on. But she had seen it all go, had made sure it all ended, and now it was all crashing in on Exegol, the only mass close enough to be worth falling towards. It took Rey a long time to fly free of all of the tumbling machines. But once she had gotten away, there was nothing left. Her friends were gone. So were their enemies.

She lingered in the emptiness, turning the TIE to look back at the flames of Exegol. She felt Ben beside her, staring with her, and remembered his corpse was down there. No, that wasn’t right - Ben had disappeared. Not even the dignity of a body to bury for those unlucky enough to call themselves Jedi. But she had his clothes with her. She had his spirit. And she was glad, suddenly, that there was no part of him down there.

* * *

“The navigation’s terrible.”

When Rey didn’t get a response, she looked up at Ben, who stared back with a ‘well what do you want me to do about it’ expression.

“You were in charge. Couldn’t you have ordered them to get an upgrade?”

“What kind would you suggest?”

Rey didn’t immediately catch the dry tone. “I don’t know. Even the Resistance’s worst junk holds up all right and you weren’t strapped for cash. Weren’t there plans in Arkanis or…” She trailed off at the disconcerting look on Ben’s face. She might’ve almost called it fond. “What.”

“Nothing,” said Ben.

“I can’t tell what you’re thinking, so -”

“Your dedication to good ship design is admirable,” he said. “Even when your enemies are piloting them.”

Rey ground her teeth together as she examined the star chart, trying to retrace her flight route. “I’m the one who has to fly it now.” She really should’ve taken the radio transmitter from the X-wing.

“What will you do with all the TIEs now you’ve won?”

She looked around at him. “What kind of a question is that?”

“It’s the kind of thing you’ll have to think of.”

“No I won’t.”

“Yeah. After the fall of the Empire -”

“Yeah, I’m sure someone will be worrying about decommissioned TIEs. Won’t be me. None of my business.”

Yeah, she knew how to get to Ach-To from here, which meant that to get to the Resistance base -

“It’ll be someone’s problem.”

“Not mine. Why is the navigation glitching?”

“It’s this place. It’s a corner of the galaxy that distorts all it touches, minds as well as technology. It was like this on my way in.”

“I didn’t have any problems.”

“You weren’t using navigation, you were using the Force.”

Rey rapped the screen with her knuckles. “What’s the nearest planet where I can refuel?”

Ben shrugged. She’d never seen him shrug before, she realised. It was a small, quick motion, still somehow drawing her attention by virtue of how broad he was, shoulders rolling almost awkwardly as if the motion was unfamiliar - but what did movement feel like for a ghost anyway? He looked more substantial now they were further away from Exegol, or maybe now that it was so dark outside, barely transparent but still shimmering blue, all other colour leeched from him. _Ugh_ \- he’d noticed her staring. She yanked her gaze away with a little start, focusing on the star charts.

“You’re useless,” she muttered.

“You’ll run out of fuel before you get to anything inhabited. I passed a moon on the way there. Land there and try to get in contact with your friends.”

“They’re probably all out of range by now.”

“Maybe you should have -” started Ben and Rey whipped around to glare at him. He very nearly flinched. He looked away and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like - _thought of that earlier_.

Rey was about to snap at him when she remembered she’d stabbed him… today? Yesterday? She had very nearly killed him. And now he was dead. And for some reason she couldn’t stop herself from being irritable and angry at him for… what?

She took a deep breath. “Where’s the moon?”

* * *

“You’re stranded.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Rey ground out, grunting as she got the control panel loose. Not enough fuel to get anywhere useful, no guarantee that there was any other living thing within a realistic communications range. Yeah, she was stranded all right. She scanned the mess of wires below, instinctively calming herself as she set her mind to work on how to fix this problem.

Rey wiped the sweat of her brow before getting to work, systematically taking the communications array apart and reconfiguring it into something like what the Resistance used, trying to figure out how to boost the signal so she had any hope of getting in touch with the Resistance. It would’ve been easier if she hadn’t been increasingly aware of Ben watching her.

She looked up. “Can you stop?”

A pause. “Stop what?”

Um. She scowled. “Staring.”

He was a silent for a moment, before answering in a tone that could not have been dryer. “Do you want me to turn around?”

Her scowl deepened and she scrunched up her nose, holding eye contact for a moment while searching for something to say. She didn’t find anything, so she went back to work.

Ben only spoke again when she had finished, sitting back to survey the fruits of her work and adjusting the dials to get to the distress frequency she needed. “You’re good at this.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” she said, then activated the signal.

One pulse.

Two pulses.

Three.

And nothing.

“At least the signal’s sending,” muttered Rey. She hoped, anyway. Time to try again.

She mumbled the distress code into the microphone, wondering why exactly she felt uncomfortable saying it in front of Ben. The signal should be enough, really, but maybe if someone heard her voice…

No reply.

“Ugh,” said Rey, slapping the controls again, then noticed Ben pressing his lips together like he very much wanted to say something, probably along the lines of _I told you you should’ve taken the X-wing_. “Don’t say it.”

“What now?”

“I try again in a few minutes. Then make a new plan.” Ben was about to speak, but she didn’t give him the chance. “Why didn’t you refuel it?”

“I was in a hurry.”

“After you _finally_ saw sense,” she said, and she hated her accusatory tone. _He just died. Why are you doing this?_

Rey looked out onto the dusty surface of the pale moon, the blue shimmer of Ben inescapable in the edge of her vision.

“We could’ve gone together.”

She snorted. “We didn’t want the same thing.”

“Is that so?”

The tone made her turn back to him. Not that she had any answer. They just stared at each other.

After what was probably seconds but felt far longer, Rey looked away, mumbling - “I should try again.”

She did so. Still nothing.

“What happens when they pick you up?” asked Ben.

What was this, an effort to distract her? Comfort her? Treat it as a certainty that her friends would indeed find her, and she wouldn’t die of thirst on a deserted moon in one of the loneliest corners of the galaxy?

Oh. She really might die here.

“Rey?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a scowl. She was so tired. “The First Order’s still out there.”

“I'll order them to stop,” said Ben and she needed a moment to understand his tone. Wry. He was making a joke. 

“You should,” said Rey resentfully. “Can they even see you?”

“I doubt it.”

“Is there some kind of code or something you could use?”

“What, like a kill code?”

She nodded hopefully.

“Not like you're thinking. And a lot of the information I had may have been rendered useless. I know one of my navigational keys wasn't working when I was trying to get to you. Pryde, I'm guessing.” He paused after this little speech. “Wonder what his deal was.”

“You wonder a lot of things, don't you,” Rey muttered. 

“One of us has to.”

“I don’t even know who Pryde is.”

“Really? And I had heard so much of the sophistication of the Resistance’s intelligence apparatus…”

“I didn’t read all the intel.” Or _any_ of the intel, which Ben didn’t have to know.

Somehow, she knew he knew.

“I might not be able to disband the First Order, but there’s a lot I can give you. Information about their position, trade networks, strike plans, if you use it right you can end this -”

“Great,” said Rey. “I’ll pass it on to Poe.”

“Do you have something to record it?”

“We’re not doing it now.”

“You should do it now.”

She frowned. “Why? I need to get off this moon, and they’ll need to recover too, and you can tell me when I’m with Poe so we don’t need to go through all the other stuff.”

“The sooner they have the information, the better. If I don't have the chance -”

He broke himself off, but it was enough. 

“What does that mean?”

“We don't know how long this will last.”

“What? You - you can't -”

“What if this is just an echo?”

“Don’t you dare.”

“You know I wouldn’t choose to but -”

“ _No_!” yelled Rey, managing to stun him into silence. She bared her teeth at him and she _hated_ the blue shimmer to him, she hated knowing that if she reached out and touched him -

Her hand would go right through.

All she wanted was to take his hand. All she wanted -

“This is bigger than us, Rey.”

“Someone else will deal with it.”

“They can’t, not without you.”

“They can! I’m not their leader, I’m not a strategist, I couldn’t ever do what she -” Rey broke off, choking on the half-formed sob. She had almost forgotten, she had almost -

“You don’t have to be her. You don’t, Rey. You just have to be you,” said Ben, like it wasn’t _his_ mother who had just died. _Maybe because he’ll join her soon_. No. _No_. He gave her a tired half-smile. “They do need that First Order intel, though.”

“Why do you care so much?”

He looked more like Kylo Ren again in that moment. He certainly didn’t look free.

Ben wouldn't meet her gaze. “It’s all I have left to offer,” he said. His voice was trembling.

_I can’t do this_ , came the unbidden thought. What ‘this’ was or what she could do about it, she had no idea.

“Try again,” said Ben.

“What?”

“Distress signal.” He was gesturing at it with his ghost fingers.

_He’s dead_. She tried again. She wasn’t exactly optimistic. _He’s dead_. It didn’t work.

“Don’t even know who I’d pass your intel on to,” said Rey. “I have no clue who’s in charge.”

“You said… Poe…”

She scrunched up her face. “Yeah. I did.” There had probably been a changeover in power already. And they’d gotten there in time, right? They’d won, somehow. “It’ll all be different now.”

“You’re winning.”

“Not yet. With the First Order out there…”

“Most of the leadership is gone.”

“And then what? The remnants run away to some far off system and bide their time so we can do all of it again in a few decades?”

Considering Rey had never seen Ben smile before today and considering just how terrible today had been, he was doing an awful lot of it. He was also hiding his smile an awful lot, which was irritating for a number of reasons.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just a discerning prediction.”

“You’re surprised?”

“No.” And she believed him. “Rey, you can do better. It can go differently, this time. That's why you’ll need to think about this stuff.”

“No, I can’t. Not -” _Alone_.

“Mum taught you well,” he said again. “And you won’t be like Skywalker.”

In what way? “I don’t even know what went wrong the first time.”

“I know that mum -”

“She’s dead,” said Rey harshly. _There’s no one left who can tell me what went wrong_. “Everyone’s…” She took a deep breath, eyes stinging. _I’m alone_. “She can’t take any decisions now,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. _She’s dead_.

Rey looked at Ben, his expression as blank as he could make it but eyes nearly as wet as hers. Could ghosts cry? What happened to their tears? Did they just… vanish?

“She taught you,” he repeated.

“Others will take that place,” said Rey, trying to sound firm. _Why do we have to talk about this now?,_ she didn't say. “They’ll think about these things. They’ll figure it out.”

“And they’ll make mistakes,” said Ben. “Like she did.”

“Was it a mistake when she reached out to you?” Rey snapped. He didn’t answer. “Why did it take that?” Her voice broke on the last syllable.

He looked at her a long while and all the emotion was back, plastered across his face like when he’d come to her, like when they'd seen each other through the Force. The one moment they had believed it might all turn out okay. “I didn’t think I could.”

“I was waiting.”

“I know.”

Rey glared at him, aware tears were trickling down her cheeks. Her head throbbed, letting her know the headache was coming back. She should be too sore for it to even register.

“Try again,” he said.

She closed her eyes briefly. It didn’t help with anything. She tried again.

_“Come in, come in_.”

They both jumped before staring at the communications array, then exchanging a stunned look. Rey only remembered to actually answer when Ben jerked his head in its direction.

She hurriedly spoke the Resistance code into the mic.

“ _I can’t believe it, it’s Rey -”_

“Finn?” yelped Rey, both startled and relieved. “Why are you still here?”

_“I felt you go. Then I felt you come back. I_ knew _you were still out there. We were coasting around, must’ve gotten back into your range, thank the stars.”_ Then, more muffled - _“See? I told you! I_ told _you.”_

Rey frowned. “What do you mean, you felt -”

_“It’s the Force! The Force, I can feel it! Where are you?”_

“I - what?”

_“Where are you?”_

“What do you mean, you can _feel_ -”

_“I’ll tell you when I see you. We just need your coordinates.”_

“Eh… yeah. Hold on a second.” She found them and quickly spoke them back to Finn. “You got it?”

_“Yeah. Just hang on, we’ll be with you soon.”_

Rey smiled tiredly at the comms unit, like Finn could see. Maybe he could. “That’s great.”

_“See you in a moment!”_

“See you!”

The signal went dark. Rey leant back in her seat, wiping her brow. “He's Force sensitive,” she whispered, stunned by this newest revelation. 

Ben, who had been avidly listening in, let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like _Obviously_.

Rey slowly turned to glare at Ben. He had the decency to raise his hands in a placating sort of way.

“What does _that_ mean?”

“I sensed it, way back on Jakku.”

“And you never thought to mention?”

“You don't usually let me do a lot of talking. So I save it for what really matters.”

“You told me I was a Palpatine.”

Ben scowled. “Low blow.”

“It’s been a long week,” she muttered, then sighed, scanning the sensors for any sign of an approaching ship. “I'm not sure we’re any better off than we were… what? Two weeks ago.” She realised what she had said, then quickly added - “With the Resistance. I mean. The war.” _Not you dying. Not that._

“Palpatine is gone.”

“I was happier not knowing he was _back_.”

“Was he back?”

The question hung between them. 

“We exhausted ourselves fighting the Final Order or - that was real. That must've been real.”

“Maybe.”

Rey turned to him in disbelief. “They all fought those ships! A planet was blown up! That isn’t just - it's not a collective hallucination or… It _has_ to be real!” She trailed off at the still-unfamiliar mirth on Ben’s face. 

“Yeah, it probably is.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

Ben didn't answer but the amusement didn't fade from his eyes. The bleeping from the sensors caught both of their attentions. “Looks like your lift is here.”

“I hope so,” muttered Rey.

She wondered what she’d do if it were actually the First Order or the Final Order or maybe some reanimated Sith or _whatever_. Maybe she’d chuck a lightsaber at them. She had a spare anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey placed the respirator from the front compartment over her mouth, clipping it behind her ears. Then her gaze alit on the clothes she’d hauled all this way with her. Her mind helpfully played multiple versions of her imminent reunion with Finn back to her, fumbling for some kind of adequate explanation of why exactly she would have someone else’s clothes along for the ride.

Rey cursed into the breathing mask. This would be a lot easier if she had some kind of backpack. But no, she’d left that in the damn X-wing. Involuntarily, she met Ben’s gaze, who was watching her bemusedly, and she knew full well how helpless her expression was.

It wasn’t about the awkwardness or even the inevitable embarrassment, she could deal with that. But it would inevitably lead to questions, questions she just couldn’t bring herself to answer yet. Not even to Finn.

_This would be so much easier if you were really there._

She removed the respirator in a determined motion.

“What are you doing?”

She didn’t answer, instead grabbed the sweater and put it on, feeling it catch on her buns that were well and truly coming undone, wriggling around in the soft black fabric until her head emerged. The sweater crumpled into a small heap by the time it got to her lap, and when she stood up it would probably come ridiculously close to her knees. She shivered, even though she _was_ considerably less cold now. Her fingers drifted to the little hole in the fabric and poked through, feeling her own clothes below. Then she picked up the mask again, looked at the trousers, then around at the TIE, then back at Ben again, who was looking no less confused.

“I’m sorry.”

She heard the sound of movement outside the TIE.

“For what?”

Rey didn’t have an answer. She put the mask back on again, felt below the sweater at her hip for the two lightsabers that still hung there, then looked around the TIE one last, final time.

Why did leaving it even matter? Sure had been an amazing three or so hours she’d spent in this thing, all the memories she’d made. It wasn’t even like this was Ben’s ship either. She had burnt that.

* * *

The door opened and she stumbled up the ramp into the ship, mumbling ‘Finn’ into her mask and pulling him into a tight hug. She hadn’t even realised how worried she’d been until she had heard his voice over the comms.

Rey pulled off the mask and gave him the best smile she could manage. He smiled back, but she could see the concern plastered across his face while Jannah hovered in the background.

“You came in a TIE,” said Finn.

Um. “Only ship that wasn’t broken,” she said as way of explanation.

“Right,” said Finn, then hesitated as if he wanted to say something else. His brow was furrowed as his gaze briefly fell to look at the sweater she was wearing, then snapped back to her eyes. He opened his mouth again determinedly, but stopped himself mid-motion. Instead - “Are you injured?”

_I died._ “I’m fine.”

“Come on. We should get back to base.”

He led her into the main part of the ship, a hand on her back as if he expected her to keel over at any moment. Rey could feel Ben follow her, slightly comforted as she moved into the cramped interior of the ship. She took a seat on one side of the ship, not mustering the energy to join the unknown Resistance pilot who was flying the ship and who was currently staring at her like she was… what? A hero? A legend?

_This is why I stay away from all of you_.

She scooted over instinctively, hugging the corner of the bench and looking over at Ben. The ghost hesitated, then sat down next to her.

Finn looked down at her, and frowned briefly as his gaze tracked over roughly where Ben was, then concentrated on her again. “Everybody else has headed back already.”

“It shouldn’t take us long,” Jannah added.

Rey nodded, staring past him at the window on the other side of the ship, at the empty horizon of the moon. She could feel Finn watching her, but after a moment he turned away and spoke quietly to Jannah. She didn’t try to listen in. Then he turned to give the go-ahead to the pilot.

The ship lurched into the air, and as it tilted to the side, preparing to fly off, she got a full view of the TIE through the window.

“Wait,” she said quietly, staring down at it. Then louder - “Wait.”

Finn turned to her. “What?”

“Blow it up.”

Finn furrowed his brow, tracked her gaze to see the TIE, and out of the corner of her eye she could see him exchanging a look with Jannah. “Why?”

She felt rage rise within her, unbidden and curdling within her - immediately she tried to dismiss it or at the very least bury it deep down. “Just _blow it up_ ,” she said - ground out - knowing her tone was too harsh but needing to take a quick breath to stop herself from yelling.

Ben stirred beside her. She didn’t look at him. She met Finn’s wary gaze instead in a silent challenge, received a long searching look that made her shiver in response.

He turned to the pilot and nodded. “Do as she says.”

The pilot had been waiting for Finn, she realised. Well, he out-ranked her. The Resistance sure liked its ranks and rules and structures and… an entire year and she still existed on the edge of it all. The pilot fired and after a few shots the flames blossomed around the TIE, quickly engulfing it, one of the canisters inside providing for a nice little explosion. Rey stared down at it, letting the flames fill her vision. This was the second time she’d seen a TIE burn in the last day. Or had it been?

What was she meant to do if she didn’t even know what was real?

“Can we go now?” asked Finn, tone dry. She didn’t look at him, but nodded.

They left.

But the air of unreality that had been bugging her wasn’t left behind. Her mind still felt clouded and on edge and… apart. And it was all so strange, with Finn moving so that she could see both him and Ben at once, sharing the same space, like when all four of them Jannah included had been on the Death Star and she’d thrown him back - last time she’d seen him, should she apologise? And before that, in the forest… They had history. This should be _more_ somehow, that they were all coexisting in this same space, in one way or another. It should _mean_ something. She remembered Kylo Ren almost killing Finn, how she’d cried when she was kneeling over his body, thinking they were going to die on the planet collapsing, how she’d left Kylo Ren behind, the unmasked monster who had been in her dreams so long… And now it was all over, right? Their story had reached a conclusion, even if the First Order was still out there and Ben’s ghost was with her and… Kylo Ren was gone. All that was left was emptiness. And her mind felt clouded. And nothing made sense.

_And_ she’d forgotten to ask whether their friends were alive. That realisation made the familiar feel of guilt clench at her heart, and she needed to swallow before she managed to speak.

“Did they… Chewie, Rose, Poe, do you know if…” She trailed off, struggling to know what names to give, what names to designate as the ones that _mattered_ , unable to ask whether everyone made it because she knew inevitably they wouldn’t have. She knew _that_ all right, what with the hazy blue pulsing gently in the corner of her vision.

“They made it,” said Finn. “But, Rey… Leia, she’s -”

“I know.”

Finn nodded in understanding, meeting her gaze, and she realised he had barely asked any questions about everything that had happened. He smiled at her, weakly but still gentle, as if he didn’t even care that the last time she’d seen him she’d thrown him back a dozen feet. Her lips did the closest approximation to a smile she could manage.

_I never even told Finn about the Force bond_. Rey looked away. It wasn’t like Finn had told her about being a stormtrooper when they first met. Still, he hadn’t lied to her for a year.

It wasn’t lying. More like… 

Rey closed her eyes. Let them chalk it down to exhaustion, better that than anything else. This way, she couldn’t answer any questions.

Barely a minute passed before her eyes shot open and she quickly turned her head to look next to her. Ben’s ghost was still there, startled but presumably quickly able to read the sudden lurch of fear off her face.

“I’m here,” murmured Ben. He reached forwards and placed his shimmering hand over the back of hers, not touching but hovering so that they were barely apart. Did it exhaust him to hold his hand like that? Could he feel anything like tiredness.

She searched his face, drinking in every part of his features. Wishing she could talk to him, but knowing Finn was too close.

“Get some rest. I’ll still be here.”

Rey hesitated, biting on the inside of her lip. She could just stare at him this whole trip. But even as she thought that, her eyelids grew heavy and nearly dropped, feeling ever more woozy. Maybe she _was_ exhausted. Maybe that was why she still couldn’t figure out anything that had happened.

She looked at him just a little longer, reassuring herself, his hand still over hers. Then she let her eyes close.

_Be with me. Be with me._

* * *

Rose spotted them first, running up to Finn and Rey and immediately being drawn into a tight hug. Then Poe ran up to them, and she could feel the relief pouring off him as he joined the hug, before stepping away slightly to get a better look at Finn and Rey in turn.

“You found her,” he said to Finn. “You really found her.”

“I was right,” said Finn with a half-grin.

Rey felt a small shudder pass through her body, and she was suddenly glad for Rose, who had kept a steadying hand on her arm. No one else even noticed how shaky she was. Just Rose, who briefly squeezed her arm in silent support.

“Are you all right?” asked Poe.

“Yeah,” said Rey. “Just tired.” She felt Finn’s gaze on her, remembered his words - _I felt you go. Then I felt you come back_. If he really _was_ Force sensitive, did that mean he knew she’d…

_Can’t deal with this right now._

“What happened?” asked Poe.

“We won.”

“Yeah,” said Poe dryly, “I noticed that bit. I need a few more details.”

“Can it wait,” muttered Rey.

“Not all of it,” said Poe. “I need to check: Palpatine. He’s gone?”

“Yeah.”

“What about Kylo Ren?”

Her throat constricted and she could feel Ben beside her and she needed to remain unaffected, glad that she could barely keep her eyes open to more than squint at her friends because otherwise tears definitely would’ve escaped. “He’s gone too,” she said. Met Poe’s gaze for one beat, too, then looked over at Rose.

Poe started again. “Did you - on the Death Star…”

She didn’t answer.

“Hey,” said Rose. “Let her sleep.”

“I need to know whether I can allow our troops to tend to their wounds, maybe even catch a few hours sleep. Do you know of any imminent threat?”

Rey briefly met Ben’s gaze, who was hovering behind Poe, hard to miss given how tall and blue he was. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Whatever’s left of the First Order has to be pretty rattled. Plus, most of their command is dead.” And on the last word, her voice broke. She couldn’t stop herself, feeling her control slipping. Studying the ground, wonder whether one of them would pull her up on it.

Poe hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. Get some sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”

Rey nodded too.

“I’ll come with you,” said Rose. To the other two - “Won’t be long.”

Without waiting for anyone else to say something, Rey let Rose guide her back to their tent, through the hoard of Resistance fighters who occasionally called something to Rose or her or both of them. She let Rose respond, aware how she had to keep grasping Rose’s arm again to keep her steady. Man, she was ready to drop.

* * *

Rey very nearly collapsed on her bunk, almost fainting right then and there, the comforting feel of blankets there to catch her. Blankets. For sleeping. She could sleep. 

“Are you sure you’re all right?” asked Rose.

“‘m fine,” murmured Rey, rubbing at her eyes.

“I’ll see whether they need help with and come back later,” said Rose. She paused. “Do you need… food, or anything?”

“Not right now,” said Rey, managing a weak smile, trying to open her eyes enough to look back at Rose, then realised she had just declined food. What a day. “When I wake up.”

“Yeah,” said Rose, smiling back. “Rest. I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

Rey stared at the books perched on the chest not far from her bunk, her vision blurring so that she could barely make them out. She had so much to _do_ , so much to figure out… If she had just a little rest… But what if…

She shifted around to look at where Ben had settled onto the stool, vaguely awkward given that there was it was a small stool and there was a lot of him. Just about managing to open her eyes properly, she was about to offer that he could sit on the bed too - then gulped.

This was all terrible.

He waited for her to speak.

Rey couldn’t think of anything meaningful to say, so instead went for the first thing that popped into her head. “Finn’s Force sensitive,” she said quietly. “Why doesn’t he see you?”

“He _sensed_ me,” said Ben. “There’s many reasons he wouldn’t be able to _see_ me.”

“Like?”

“Force sensitivity can mean a lot of things, it doesn’t have to extend to perceiving Force ghosts. We also don’t know whether I’m a ghost in the traditional sense. Or, give or take a dyad, I could be linked to you and only to you. Or it may be a decision on the side of the ghost who can or can not perceive them. Or he might be able to see me and is just pretending.”

Rey raised her eyebrows. “That’s unlikely.”

“Agreed.”

She slapped the pillow a few times like she’d watched other people do. When she realised Ben was watching her with eyebrows raised too, she very nearly blushed.

“Ghost in the traditional sense, huh.”

“You should sleep.”

“So are we really a dyad?”

“I don’t know. Listen to your friends, Rey. Sleep.”

“Yeah,” muttered Rey. “Sure.” She pulled off her boots, struggling with all the spots where blood and sweat had crusted and stuck to her. Everything was sticky, except for the sweater she was still wearing. That was warm and comfortable. “You’ll still be here when I wake up?”

“I think so,” said Ben. Not _I will be_. He had to know it was a promise he might not be able to keep, so he didn’t make it.

Right now, she didn’t have any use for his honesty. Right now, she wanted a comforting lie, the assurance that this could all be all right. Somehow. Whatever was false and whatever had been true, whatever memories she could trust or whenever her senses may have lied to her about, she barely cared any more. All she wanted was to flee to a lie better than the one she was living. Why couldn’t Ben give her that?

“What if there’s a way to make you come back?” she asked, and oh how tired she was for the question, which had been niggling at the back of her mind since the nightmare of Exegol, to finally slip out, a confession to a ghost she could not take back. She had to squint to make out his reaction in the dim tent from under her heavy eyelids, but the mixture of pain and apprehension and sadness was easy enough to see. Not a muscle of Ben Solo’s face being put to use for one emotion or another, as if they’d been asleep for so long that now he couldn’t help but contort them.

“I’m gone, Rey.”

“For now.”

“You’ll need to let go.”

“I don’t _want_ to.”

A pause. “For now I’ll be with you,” he said, horribly gentle. “Sleep, Rey.”

“Fine,” she mumbled as she took one last look at all of him and lay back on the bunk, gathering her blankets around her. “We’ll pick it up in the - the morning.” The last word got lost in a yawn.

As her eyes slammed shut and sleep was kind enough to engulf her, her last thought was that she had made up her mind. She was going to bring back Ben Solo. Nothing and no one would stop her from doing so. Not even Ben himself.


End file.
